The Ruby Materia
by Deru Cria
Summary: A mysterious and powerful man appears wanting a rare Materia that could only be produced after the Last Ancient was destroyed. Can Cloud and the gang resist the temptation of the rare Materia long enough to get rid of it for all time? LEMON!
1. Chapter 1: Breathe

**Bottlecaps and Bus Rides**

_I remember the way the bottle looked when I had purchased it_

_It had a curvaceous way of bending the light and making it all the more desierable_

_Moreover, I remember the place I had bought it in: A small pizza chain_

_Sure they have other pizza places the same in the city I now live in, but it was my place_

_A unique place I could go to and sleep, dream and think_

_It was my place, and I now think about it this night, of all nights_

_The city I had lived in, the city I now live in, the decisions I had made_

_Would I do it the exact same way? Or would I do it differently?_

_No time to think about it now, I've arrived at my stop._

**The Ruby Materia**

**Chapter 1: Breathe**

The clouds began to move back and forth in the sky; he kept still. The clouds turned a liquid green; he turned his head to the right. The grass he stared at waved in the breeze, seemlessly careless despite the destruction that lay around it. He looked to the sky again, and pointed out that he could see a chocobo in the clouds. She stared hard wondering where he saw that, and he took her hand in his and pointed to a large storm cloud that was now moving away from them. She laughed as she saw this giant bird, and he laughed, but didn't laugh as long as her. She quieted down and continued to hold his hand. Six months, that was all that passed, everything went by so fast, too fast if you asked her. Fortunately people actually appreciated what they did: destroying Midgar, saving the world from ultimate destruction that sort of thing. Unfortunately, Aeris was dead and there was no bringing her back, and Tifa was burdened with Clouds moping and sorrow, perhaps now was the time to reveal her feellings about him? Maybe-

"YO! LOVE BOIDS!" A loud voice shouted over the silence that embraced their time, as Cloud turned to look who it was, but he knew already. "YO! LOVE BOIDS! WE GOTTA GET OUTTA DIS PLACE!" Tifa stood up and put her hands on her hips and asked exactly what the hell he was shouting about. Indeed, this was the first time they had stopped to relax in six months. The first time was when they stopped by Midgar, only to find their comrades digging through to find scraps of food and beer for the celebration of the destruction of Midgar and Shinra. "There is news dat dis horde of 'great beasts' on its way! I don't know about you two, but I have had enough of dis shit for one day! Let the town folks deal wid dis crap!" She gave him a glare and he folded his arms and looked away. "My decision is final! No fucking way!" She turned to him, him on the ground staring at the clouds. Looking up at the stars, the hidden ones in the day time. Hard to see, but still there.

"Come on Cloud! You know what we have to do!" Indeed he did, but he didnt like it. He really hasn't had much time to recouperate from the long amount of time, at least to his perspective, since that burning day. The day the world nearly ended, and he faced a god himself, and nearly died at the hand of him too. Cloud looked up toward the clouds once again, searching the hidden heavens for an answer; maybe her hand, would appear just once, just once more. The clouds continued south, toward other lands, other peoples homes, and finally he turned to Tifa. Tifa. She was the band-aid to his wounds, the psychiatrist to the psycho, the cloud to the rain. Her curves made his sexual desires run rampant in his heads and her intelligence made him laugh and intrigue his mind. But would SHE agree? She that is dead, she that he loved. Would she allow him to live his life in peace? Cloud turned to his partner with a sudden quickness that made both Barrett and Tifa jump.

"Well what are you waiting for, we have a town to save!" Cloud jumped over both of them and headed for Cid's ship. Tifa and Barrett exchanged glances both wondering why the hell he was so jumpy already, and shrugged it off. Cloud was right, they did have a town to save. They all ran off to the ship, and prepared to leave when something strange happened. As they boarded the ship they all became incapable of movement. Cloud and the others cried out in astonishment, when Cid entered the room.

"Whoa! Sorry about that, lemme turn that off for ya." He pulled a lever down, and they could move again. "It's a new defense system I put in today, it automatically shuts down your nervous system, but keeps ya alive. Man dis ting has alotta differnt modes, I can make you stand still, stand on yer head, hop like a rabbit..." As Cid went on about his new defense system, he didn't notice the very pissed off Barrett coming for him, when XIII pulled him back and yanked him into the cabin. Barrett struggled against the...Canine...Feline...Whatever's pure strength.

"Barrett please he was only testing it, besides it's not like he did anything to harm us!" XIII was right, at least most of the group thought so, and so Barrett was left in his own angst as he walked away to his cabin. Yuffie was about to walk after him, but Tifa held her back. She shook her head and told her to give him time. Yuffie accepted, and they all returned to the front of their aircraft, accepting fully what was their destiny. You see, it is no longer their destiny to save the world. They must now perserve it for generations to come, so that the future of their Earth can continue. And in order to perserve this was to get rid of whatever horrible monsters were no longer needed on the planet. Unfortunately they had to "put down" most of their beloved companions such as Ifrit and Shiva. They locked away all their valued minerals and Hypers and buried them in the place that once contained the evil of Sephiroth. The crater that brings back the horrible memories of Cloud and the rest of their band, and vowed unless Sephiroth came back, they would never touch this place again. As for Barretts' daughter Marlene, it's been a tough six months. Just after Sephiroth was killed, there was an accident, Marlene was caught in a fire. She died shortly after the rescue; she was buried in Costa Del Sol, because her father never took her to see the dolphins, and now she could do it forever. Barrett hasn't said a lot about his feelings, hasn't talked to anyone, but everyone could hear him cry in his sleep during those cold and lonely nights. He blames no one but himself for what had happened, the crew tried to cheer him up and convince him it wasn't but only got so far to receive a kick in the guts. They gave up shortly after three months. He seems to be recovering as quickly as he can, considering he has to still concentrate in battle. He has increased an incredible amount of strength, and has even destroyed a couple of black dragons on his own.

"Well, let's get this over with," replied Cloud as he sat in a seat next to Cid, "Close all doors and alert the crew that we are moving out!" His orders could be heard like an echo through a cave.

"Allrighty! Attention Crew of the Highwind! Board immediately! I repeat..." Cid ordered them on, and it was time to lift off. As they took off it occured to Cloud that he forgot to ask Cid where they were going. He looked up and he was gone, curious and a little frustrated Cloud jumped up from the Captains chair and began to search around, checking Cid's cabin and the bathrooms. Scratching his head he was about to head back to the Bridge and wait for Cid to return when he heard something from the Engine Room. It was a sort of muffled sound, like someone screaming into a pillow, but more like a moan. Curious, Cloud slowly opened the door to the Engine Room, and stepped in. It was pretty small compared to the amount thrust it put out; almost twenty cylinders pumping gas and water through tubes and cogs. It was about the size of a large living room, maybe a little bigger, certainly big enough to fit fifteen crew members in to work on the...It suddenly occured to Cloud that he hadn't seen a single crew member working their asses off trying to keep the engine in tip-top conditions. Now something was up, and he pulled his sword out, sleek and polished; don't underestimate the cleanliness of the sword, it had seen many battles, and lots of gore. In his defensive stance he saw two figures in the back most corner of the room, and he carefully snuck up on the unsuspecting enemies. With a loud battle cry he jumped in front of what had looked like an enemy, when he focused into the darkness it was something a little worse than that.


	2. Chapter 2: Need

**Chapter 2: Heat**

Just before the strike, Cloud takes a fraction of a second to process exactly what his eyes were telling him he saw. Muscles inside his body begin to tighten, he can feel his face turn red with embarrassment, his heart racing across the finish line; he grows a bit. This was certainly news to him; so panicked and in shock, forgetting where he was his left hand reaches for the zipper on his purple pants. Luckily, gaining some control he stops it. All sorts of emotions pass through that skull of his, ideas of outrageous potential sway his judgment: Lust, want, fuck, pound her hard, harder, yeah put it in, yeah, just like that, oh, fuck me hard! For an instant he was back with his love, on that last day at the Chocobo Ranch. She was beautiful, her hair down, she looked like an Angel on Earth. Her skin, darkened from the travels she had had, smoothed out, ovals, diamonds, curves. She was the essence of his love. Her eyes blue oceans screaming his name, yet there was a foreboding shadow back then, she knew her destiny.

He suddenly awakened, realizing he was crying, he turned quickly and asked for the coordinates of their destination. He could hear them slowly putting their clothes back on, still breathing hard. It wasn't easy seeing Yuffie perform fellatio on the Captain of the Highwind. "STOP! JUST GIVE ME THE FUCKING COORDINATES! GO BACK TO YOUR LOVE!"

"C…Cloud…We…" Cid tried to speak beyond Cloud, but as always he had some sort of a commanding presence, especially with Cloud's sword at Cid's throat.

"JUST THE FUCKING COORDINATES!" He looked to Yuffie, slightly crying, and back to Cid, his eyes furiously searching for the words that would come out of Cid's mouth. "YOU DON'T GET IT! HAVE YOUR LOVE BEFORE IT ALL DIES…BEFORE…"

"60 degrees lat, 70 degrees long, 50 clicks south of Costa Del Sol." At the last word Cloud withdrew his sword and placed it in his scabbard. Turning slowly Cloud headed for the bridge.

He pulled his pants up slightly when she stopped him halfway up. It was a secret relationship, they found time for each other when they could. The continuation of their quest did not bode well for their deteriating relationship. The had little time for full on penetration, usually ending up just doing fellatio and hand jobs. It was good, she ended up cumming whether he went down on her or not. So far no penetration was fueling their desire to do so, resulting in multiples and large orgasms. She lookedto him almost saying 'This is our chance, let's take it!' She had some cum on her face, almost making itgleam when she smiled. He winced and pointed to the cum, sheput a hand to her face and pulled it a way while a large strand of cum followed. She simply lickedup the rest and swallowed. He smiled at her, shesmiled back, it was their time, and damn the rest of the crew. Leaning over hekissed her; a million fires blazed on his tongue, passionately moving back and forth, up and down, all directions at once. He could only remember when their first kiss lasted so long and so hard. Alltime, pardon the cliche, seemed to stop; sounds disappeared. He could taste her, she was wonderful a thousand candy stores couldn't do her justice. She could feel him, growing larger his erection fueling her passion. This man will provide her a family and herself, this was her first desire.

She broke the kiss and ripped open his shirt quite agressively, talckling him to the cold steel floor. "Whoa! Slow down, we have time! The city is-"

"I don't give a shit, I want you, NOW!" She replied with a loud yelp, her saliva seemed to drip unrestlessly to the floor, causing whisps of steam to rise.

There was no denying his feelings for her, for they were the same as his. He could see the passion in her eyes, the want, no,the NEED burning like ten million suns in her eyes. Her body reflected, her eyes, growing slightlyred from thepassion in the room, and the heat coming off thetwin engines. This was love, right? He put his hand to her cheek,"Ok, baby."

* * *

Cloud stormed out of the engine room and headed straight for the bridge.They had to understand, they had to. To lose the one you love...Well it just plain sucks, no other words could describe his pain. It was sucked out of him, and continues to this day. "They have to understand, it flies away, and then there is nothing." He sighed, then reaching behind him he pulled out his secondary weapon: an 8 inch blade. This blade was important to him, it was made by the remenats of Aeris's last weapon, he was told not to do this, but this was the weapon she fought with and it will always be by him for him to do battle against everything that she didn't stand for. It will give them death, and will keep him alive, only to end it again...He paused and glanced around behind himself, thinking he heard a cry of shock, but it was nothing. Taking the blade in his left hand, he slowly carved a long line straight across his wrist. "Ah, what sweet release, closer to you, Aeris." Wiping his blood stained knife on his jeans he put his Dagger of Sorrows back in his scabbard and walked through the doorway to the bridge. -  
She couldn't believe her own eyes, they were lying, the eyes were telling lies. He wouldn't do that, it's crazy, why would he..? She was watching behind a large steam exhaust pipe when he released whatever he was releasing and she gasped. Luckily it wasn't loud enough for him to hear, she was also pretty lucky when he didn't hear the sobs she was letting out as he walked onto the bridge.

* * *

Yuffie smiled for half a second before taking cid's hand and dragging it over her collar bone and placing it on her left breast. The cotton, the tank top covering Yuffie for now, felt soft to an engineers hands. So used to the cold steel and wrought iron of the machines he built, it felt wonderous. Smiling, he sat up and slid her outer coat down her rounded shoulders. Smiling a bit she took off his blue coat, then without warning ripped his white t-shirt straight down the middle. This revealed his washboard stomach and impecable pecs. "Hey!" He cried, "That was my favorite shirt!" He laughed hard then put his teeth between her breasts onto her white shirt. 

"Don't you dare!" He did dare, and ripped off her shirt in one tug! Spitting out her shirt, she suddenly attacked him moving her teeth toward his nipples. He dodged her just in the nick of time.

"Yuffie, I don't get turned on from purple nurples!" She smiled and sat down on his lap; she could definetly feel him under her, but they had enough time to tease each other.

"Well I do!" Guiding his hands from her sides to her shoulders she went red again. She knew full well that she did have a sensitive chest. Cid leaned up from his sitting position and smiled just a bit before taking his tongue up to her left nipple and ever so lightly licked the very tip of her nipple. Her world fluctuated; colors were brighter, the heat of all the stars powered her, as Cid slowly closed his mouth over her entire tit. Like a calve suckling at a mothers' breast, he was unstoppable, the whole time she combed through his hair, nearly scaring his skin and making it bleed. Her world spun, a metal sponge soaking the physical properties in the molten rock that was her passion. No, THEIR passion. She could remember a time when she felt no love, when her supposed destiny was to kill, maim, murder, steal, to be unstoppable. Yes, there was that time. But something happened, some thing that drove the Evil Yuffie into hiding; something brought forth the fire that was her real destiny. Her destiny, yes, and her fate, were tied, and tied still to that man. He brought her forward and pushed her on, he cared, and killed for her. For a time, she believed Cloud was her man, her destiny. But the feeling wasn't mutual. Aeris, his true love now gone forever, and forever will he wait till his death to meet her again. It was a real downer, and Yuffie felt obligated to thank Cloud somehow, for the time he gave her, for letting them have their time,for...everything. Hopefully she'll come up with something but now wasn't the time to think about it, now was her time. Their time. Twisting out of his nipple grip she stood up and pulled his pants all the way down. He stood too and removed the last of her clothes;it seemed as if it were a billion degrees in there. Sweat began to pour from their sides as he stared into her eyes. Suddenly she backed up with a gaze of playfulness. She got up on one of the tables nearby, scraping off the tools used for everyday repairs. Spreading her legs wide, she motioned for him to come to her.

"I want you in me, now." She licked her fingers and slowly set them around her vagina and dragged them up her waist. Too hot to bear he got a sudden testosterone rush and flew forward and began banging her as hard as he could. She felt the pain of a thousand broken hymens and grabbed the edge of the table for support. She slowly put a hand to his face, so hard and full of pain, he felt that he needed to do this quickly otherwise he could never have her again. "Shhhh...It's okay, it's okay." He stopped long enough to look up and realize that she was beautiful, she was something that he had been looking for for a long time. He started to cry.

"It's amazing, how you can love me, I've done so many terrible things in the past..."

"That's just it, my love, its the past. You, WE, have done and seen some horrible things, but it's over now." Just then Cid saw Sephiroth, in his mind, the dead, walking in his mind, people, innocents that died. He had tried his hardest to keep them from dying to save the planet. He bent over and cried, she knew this was hard for him, losing his hometown. She slid him out and took his hand. "Follow me," She got off the table and walked over to the crewmans quarters, and opened the door. Four engineers were inside doing nothing but lazing around. "Out...NOW!" She needn't say another word, they were out before she took a step forward. She turned around and closed the door behind her. "Cid, snap out of it, we are on our way to save some people and you can't be seen with tears!"

"But those things..."

"I understand, we have seen some fucked up shit in this place, in this world, but we can't give up just because Sephiroth is dead, just because the world is safe! That isn't my destiny, and that isn't yours either. Sephiroth, may his soul rot in hell, wants us to fail, if we let those things take over, it will happen all over again. The deaths, the hate, the earth dying. We need to stand together."

"I am not sure how long I can take this, it's one dramatic turn after another, you say it will end, but when?" He stood to leave, but she held him down on the bed.

"Damn it Cid! I need you to be strong for the world! I need," A tear trickled down her cheek, "I need you to be, to be strong, for me, help me be strong so I can be strong for you. We're a team remember? Be strong, for me, for..." He coupled his hands on her cheeks, she sobbed with him.

"This is why I love you, you are the strength I receive, you fuel my existence. You are right, I don't know what the hell came over me, it's almost as if I wasn't myself" Cid kissed her passionately, and never stopped loving her. He reached over to the light switch and clicked it off. In the low light she could see him smile.

"Just don't go so fast ok? Cloud gave us our time, then we can tell them." Cid smiled, he liked that idea very much.

* * *

"450 mph, sixty degrees South by SouthWest, we're right on course boys." Putting down communicator he tried to position himself so the pipe wouldn't hurt so much. "Augh, Damn it, we couldn't have sent that new guy? What's his face?" He heard a crackle and then there was an answer. "Sorry man, this one came straight from Heidegger. We needed a pro in his field to do this kind of work. He didn't want us to pull a Sephiroth on him, you know? Screw up so bad that we screw ourselves over?" The crackle of the radio being turned off made one of the crew members, Red 13, he thought, look up to where the Turk operative was hiding. I guess he thought it wasn't worth his time to kill someone he couldn't see. Sighing a bit, the Turk operative, Reno, relaxed a bit then tried to sleep. This was going to be one fucked up trip.

* * *

As Cloud entered the deck, he saw Tifa come right in after him. Unsure to what she had actually seen, he paced a bit then sat on the stairs leading to the Captains chair. Red 13 realized that neither Cid nor Yuffie was there but he kept his mouth shut about that one, deciding that subject to be a little touchy. Although Barrett very much disagreed. "Yo! We're all set, where's Cid'at?" "We don't need him, I got the coordinates right here." Cloud gave the coordinates to the young navigator and patted his back before returning to the stairs, seemingly staring into space, as if nothing was going on. It must have been about ten to thirty minutes later when Cid entered the room. 

"Hey, sorry about that, but I," As Yuffie entered the room and hung on his arm, "excuse me, we have an anouncement to make! Yuffie and I are getting married!" At first it was silent for about the first twenty seconds then the crew came bursting through the doors, laughing and cheering for their Captain. Tifa, absolutely full of glee, came and hugged Yuffie nice and tight. Vincent stayed for a good two seconds before giving a good 'Hmph!' and leaving them behind. Yuffie tried to go after him when the red alert came on. "Everybody to your stations! All Personell to your stations, everyone else designated as such, report to the bridge!" The HighWind manueverd slowly downward through the clouds. "Who sounded the alarm?"

"Sir!" A young officer, barely in his twenties turned to Cid, "Sir, with the new thermo-heat detection device we installed last week, I can see two heavily armored tanks, sixteen infantry units and at least two Hyper-Snipers down below the cloud line." Cid saluted the man and congratulated on a job well done when a voice came through the radio. At first there was some interference for some unexplained reason (Damn early technology! thought Cid), then a familiar voice poked in through the static.

"Hello? Does the HighWind read me?" It was the mayor of Costa Del Sol. "This the Mayor of Costa Del Sol, glad you guys could make it, everyone has evacuated the city. You are clear for landing." The radio clicked off. It seems he had nothing left to say.

"Well Cloud," said Cid, "are you ready? I'm going to hover about twenty feet from the LZ and you and the rest are going to drop down ok?" Cloud nodded and drew his sword. Amazingly it still felt as light as the day he bought it. So much blood shed because of this weapon, but all for good cause, right?

"I'm ready," Cloud then sheethed his sword. "Are the rest of you guys ready?" He turned, and saw Tifa with her fists, punching the air lightly, Vincent with his Death Penalty, Barrett and his guns, Cid and his Flayer, Cait-Sith reading the weapons inside of his mechanical body; it seems as if everyone was ready for the battle of Del Sol. "We are ready."

"Allright then here is the plan: Cloud, you and Tifa will attack from the South, Vincent and Red you will attack from the North, Yuffie and Barret with the help of the Infantry and the Tanks with Hyper-Snipers will attack from the East. Once we get those slimy bastards into the West toward North Corel, Cait-Sith and I will bomb the hell outta these bastards!" Once informed the team headed out to the main room and waited to drop below.


	3. Chapter 3: Battle of Del Sol

**Chapter 3: The Battle of Del Sol**

As the wind was blown across the plains South of Costa Del Sol, it crossed Clouds mind that he could die in this battle. Of course all these thoughts cross everyone's minds at one point or another the problem isn't that he was scared to die. He is actually looking forward to it. "Aeris...Be my guide, guide my blade stealthfully and let it pierce the heart of my enemies..." It wasn't long before he realized he said it aloud, and what was worse, is that Tifa was right beside him. She merely smiled.

"Yes, Aeris, guide my fists willfully and let it smite down those who want to take our peaceful world from us." Cloud was a little shocked to hear her say these things. As if she was in love with Aeris as well...Could she? No, she loved Cloud with her heart and mind. He could only keep these things in his heart and mind for so long before the piercing screams of those left in the city reached his ears.

"THIS IS IT GUYS! GET READY TO JUMP!" Cid was yelling over the intercom, but Cloud and everyone else could barely hear him due to the amount of Costa Del Sol weaponry from their town protectors being shot inward toward the town. And the beasts, oh their cries of joy and pain, it pierced Cloud's ears, made him want to rip his ears off his head. Suddenly the HighWind stopped in postion, and it was a twenty-foot drop to the nearby streets below. "HEAR YA GO!" Cloud, Tifa, Vincent, Barrett, Yuffie, and Red (for short), all jumped down and out, landing not as softly as they had planned but no one was hurt in the fall. They got up slowly and realized that they were surrounded by a wave of people exiting the city, after that the Lieutenant of their little town came out to greet them.

"Well, if it isn't the Calvary, is it? No it's not! I asked for the team of the HighWind, and I get two pixies, a dog, a bat, Mr. T, and some weirdo with purple pants! Where are the to hereos that defeated Sephiroth and Jenova? Who saved the planet," at this the Lt. spat on Barretts boots, " and-" before he could speak another word Tifa had socked him in the guts. Of course, it wasn't as if the guy could actually speak anymore, Tifa had socked the wind out of him.

"We're here, Lieutenant Moron, and if you don't like what you see," she bent over and picked up the Lieutenants head to clevage then eye level, "how about taking us on a test spin?" He smiled then stood up, muttering under his breath, then laughed a hearty laugh.

"Now this is more like it, I apologize for my earlier...transgressions, just had to make sure you guys were the fighting force my father told me about."

"Your father?" Said Vincent, everyone turned, he shrugged.

"Yes, my father was one of the many people who loved to check you guys out in action, 'course this was before the dog," He pointed to Red, "had joined your ranks. Call it a hobby if you like, but my father sent me letters of this fighting force. His last letter was just before all hell broke loose and that giant meteor thing was sent down upon Midgar." He spat once more, this time on the ground, "Good riddance to bad filth."

"So show us where to start and we'll take over." Cloud nodded toward the city, and the Lieutenant turned and they all followed.

* * *

It was inside the HighWind that the team really should have considered the biggest threat, but always helpful for those who couldn't be helped, the team had made their decision. It was screeching and bumping that would make anyone turn from his post, but the crew was too busy relaying orders and making preparations for the air raid to even notice the banging coming from inside one of the airconditioning units. For if Cloud knew exactly what was going on, he would be there to kick his ass back to HQ, but unfortunately as Reno dug through the AC unit, he slowly found his way to where he was sent to go. "Goddammit! Jesus these people need some serious rodent poison. Well, I'm in, now, what the hell am I looking for?" He turned off his radio and proceeded to look around the room. Gloves, and swords and pictures were scattered everywhere around the room. He didn't know where to start until a chest in the corner caught his eye. "Ah-ha! Perhaps it is in..." just as he approached it, a silent alarm was set off. Video cameras played the feed to the control room, but everyone was so busy, what with the aerial attack underway, they hadn't noticed a thing. Fortunately for the HighWind team, it was a recording and would soon be watched. 

"It's supposed to be a red orb about the size of your fist. Check the chest." Reno slowly made his way to the chest, unaware as to what was going on underneath the HighWind. Once he managed to get it open, though, he turned deep red.

"Um, I don't think this is what we are searching for." He checked in with his Superior and was ordered to try the next room. Hopefully the infamous Yuffie would have something to offer to The Turks.

* * *

As the team made there way across the streets of Costa Del Sol, the Monsters, large humanoid beasts, long claws, teeth as tall as a man, made their way to the center of the complex city. One turned to the other, nodded, as if they had some sort of plan and made their way West...As planned. There was to be no fight between the Monsters and the HighWind team of mercenaries, it was much too dangerous, could get killed with Cloud on that team. His legendary sword skill, and heart of steel, was made known all across the planet. Hopefully, if all went according to plan, he would be dead, and the Materia, would belong to them. The beast smiled, a smile that would kill humans and others instantaneoulsy. He turned back East to watch Vincent and the others head their way.

* * *

The drive, he felt a new drive. Cloud raced through the streets at full speed, his eight-foot blade streamlining behind him. Anger, confusion; he felt something new too..._What is this feeling? I've felt it before...but when-_ A flash, a moment of pain, followed by an image of Aeris's dead body on the ground, blood everywhere, a flash, and there was Tifa. Cloud shook his head, he knew that couldn't be it. Sure, she was a childhood friend and would protect her but love? Was it possible she..? 

Just out of the corner of his eye he caught a beast jumping from roof to roof. Concentrating on his materia of Lightning, he cast it straight toward the beast. Dodging the bolt, the monster lost its balance and crashed into the wall of the building in front of it. Now dazed and confused Cloud seized the moment and rushed toward the large monster. Much like a Dual horn this monster stood on it's hind legs having strong hamstrings and excellent dexterity. The army of Costa Del Sol mentioned that the beasts had some sort of 'Armor Skin', making it so bullets cannot penetrate but do weaken the armor. The head was much like a Dual Horn except smaller and almost like a helm like the Knights of the Round Table. Two grotesque horns stood up from it's bald, yet red as blood, head. Cloud could still see the gore of innocent victims on it. Before he could do anything, distracted from the battle, the monster rose up, and turned around. Cloud's eyes widened, he couldn't believe what he saw.

Right before him was the face of the enemy, the face of the race. It was human in nature, a skull-like face, but definetly human. Standing twelve feet tall, the monster was definetly an opponent to deal with, but size doesn't always matter, and Cloud definetly knew that. Before he could make a move, the monster opened its mouth.

"What's the matter? Surprised?"

* * *

Apparently the beasts had some sort of trick up their sleeves of blood. As Vincent watched from a tower in the North Eastern District, he watched the movements of destruction. It was almost as if the beasts were _LEADING _the group to the West. But what purpose could that possibly serve? Using his vampiric eyesight he sought out what was in the distance. He could see the HighWind in the clouds above the plains of the continent, a few mountains, but...Wait. A flash of light, a gun? Looking through a special set of binoculars to make his vision even more acute, he saw a woman, a gun; a sniper? Could the beasts be a lure to the best sniper position? Perhaps he was part of the army. Looking harder he saw one thing that definetly made him sure that that paticular person was not part of the Army. A woman, blonde hair, a smile to kill... 

Going to his radio, he contacted with Cid, sending a public message across all military frequencies, "Warning, this is a setup, there is a sniper in the hills." Jumping from the nineth floor, he landed smoothly on the ground, leaving behind an impact crater, broken stone and his emotions. This was a job, he must do it alone.

"Are you sure? I don't see anything down there, we aren't picking up on the heat sensors except...Well there is one or two soldiers ready to back-"

"Yes, I'm fucking sure, she must be using an Ice Shield Materia to disguse her, but I SAW her!"

"Her? What the hell is going on here Vincent?" Cid listened hard. All he could hear was his breath, a large gulp and...

"I'm going alone don't follow me."

"Vincent! Vincent!" It was too late, he had turned off the radio. The others didn't receive signal, something was jamming it up. "Fuck."

* * *

Jumping side to side, up walls and over gaps, Tifa quickly made her way toward the Western plains. Once at the last building before the endless waves of tall grass, she realized that not all the beasts were in the plain. Let's see...four monsters here, five all together, where is the fifth? Did we lose it in the city? Was it killed? Reaching for her radio, she tried contacting the others but the signal was jammed. Cursing, she threw the radio into the air and round-kicked it into the plains. This was going to be a difficult day, taking out her Hyper, she shoved the hyperdermic needle into the back of her spine. Grunting everything became a blur as she ran through the streets, passing the buildings. '_Please be alive you moron.' S_he thought, then passed up and over the next building to see Cloud and seemingly having a conversation with the beast, for his swordwas slightly lowered and he had a strange look on his face. Seeing this she lost her concentration and tripped over the building's ledge and face-planted into the roof. 

"Just great, just fucking great."

* * *

"Y-Y-You can speak?" Cloud had his sword lowered slightly questioning what the images his eyes sent to his brain. 

"Yes. Does that surprise you? Look at the size of my cranium, don't you think my head is large enough to harbor thoughts and intelligence?" The thing backed up a bit and sat on a van that was in the alley. His size crushed the car as glass shattered and all four tires blew, sending rubber everywhere. A metal fragment glanced Cloud's cheek; he hadn't noticed. "So, what's _your_ story blondie?"

"Story? What do you mean?"

"Come on, everyone has their own story to life, mine is simple: Kill people and...well the rest is confidential. However I should warn you, you know, give the hero of the story a fighting chance, the West side plains you plan to kill us all at," the monster eyeballed to the West, "is a trap. There are hidden snipers up on the hills, some fake, some not so fake." The monster cracked his knuckles on the side of the building, it fell over before he could get to his pinky finger.

"Why are you telling me this? What could you possibly gain from me knowing about your traps?" Cloud went back into his attack position, holding the sword horizontal to the ground. The monster, standing up, nearly twelve feet tall, smiled.

"It's always nice to see the look on your face when you will findout the truth. The fact that you are here right now, trying to do your job, realizing you are now in a trap, priceless."He turned away and started to run on all fours toward the west.

"Damn." Cloud started to run when he heard a scream, he looked back to see Tifa fighting a smaller beast. "TIFA!" Using his Materia of Jump, he leapt into the air, a feather he was, ascending to the top of the building. Casting Firaga onto his sword he plunged the blade betwixt its shoulder blades. Doing a full front flip while the sword was still in the beast he pulled with all his might, causing the sword to split the beast in two from the middle of its back to the tip of its head. The sword Cloud carried was sparkling as if it never touched flesh. "Are you allright Tifa?"

She just looked at him, a little shocked at what he just performed and stepped over the beast which was now bleeding profusely and began to drip over the side of the building. "Yeah, now I am." She began to reach her arms around him, when he bound from one roof to another.

"Come on, we have tocease this destruction before more people die!" As he kept jumping from building to building, Tifa stood astride the dead beast.

"Playing hard to get, is harder than I thought." Frustrated she kicked the dead beast over the ledge and watched its body be split in two, again, from aconsiderablyenormous,jagged piece of glass. Turning away she emptied her stomach of whatever contents she recently ate. "Fuck, goddamn it you bastards...and that was a good chocobo soup." As she leapt down she paused a minute over the dead body of the monstrosity, holding back her vomit, she peered at its spine. There was some kind of internal metal-like vertabrae, almost as if these things were breed. Catching a swift blur or orange, Tifa halted Thirteen in his tracks. "Take a look at this."

"Ok, allright, I get it, you got a new tank-top, you look fine." Giving XIII one of those looks the kind where it was funny but this is definetly not the time or place to be making jokes, XIII winced and peered at the very odd piece of rare-earth bound to the beasts spine. He squinted unsure of what it was, then tried to rasp his claws across the back, but there was no wound left. "Hm, just as I thought, this is Mythril. Give me a minute, I need to check something." Taking his claws he tore open the rest of the body, making Tifa greener than a Leprachaun with a coat made of four leaf clovers. "Oh shit, this is going to make things difficult for some of us. Thank God Cloud's sword is made of Mythril."

"What do you mean?" Swabbing the vomit from her face, she sat on a bench on the other side of the building, in the sunlight.Drawing a pack of cigarettes from a sack she had tied to her waist, she lit up. Offering a 'Hope' cigarette to XIII, he declined.

"You know, those things will kill you." He sat across from her, about five feet across. She gave him, again, another one of those looks.

"You know**_, THOSE _**things will kill you." She motioned a hand to the fiend lying in pieces with its innerds splayed everywhere. XIII laughed a bit. "So what do you mean things will be hard on us, excep Cloud?" Taking a drag she blew it away from XIII's face.

"These damn beasties have Mythril intertwined with their skeletal structure. Someone breed these things on purpose. It seems we have a new enemy. And as you know, only Mythril can break itself, as far as we know, but Ice Materia and Lightning seem to have a good effect on it." Sighing a bit and laying sideways on the dusty street he looked up at Tifa. "That's why this day is going to suck."

Inhaling the toxic fumes once again, Tifa blew out several smoke rings before flicking the half-lit cigarette, when XIII grabbed it in mid air with his mouth. She shot him a smile, with an arched eyebrow. "Well hell with it then, if those things will kill me instantly..." He broke off the sentence when he stared off into the distance. "Vincent?" He stood on all fours and headed off.

"Wait for me!" Trying to keep up she ran to the nearest alley and hopped up, following XIII's orange blur. _'This is going to be a very interesting day.'_

* * *

Barett, being as far East from the action, stopped to rest. "Dammit, I need a vehicle." Turning to a command center he grabbed a motorcycle. This time the cycle was thinner and much more environmentally safe. He saw a couple soldiers wave him off, and he smiled to himself. Many things, perhaps too much, has happened to him in his life. Marline...She is no longer with him, his family, all gone, what does he have to live for anymore? _'I can't think like that! My team, no, the planet is counting on us to keep everything straight, to make sure...' _He stopped, head drooped to the ground, tears dropping then taken away by the wind that was around him. "What now?" 

_REVENGE_

"Revenge? To who, no one killed Marline! She died of a sickness, there was no cure! My wife...Shinra is already dead, Midgar is destroyed, the Turks, they no longer exist; my part is done here! I have done everything...There isn't anything left to do!" Crying into the bike he started to slow, when something caught his eye. He turned the wheel too sharply and rolled into a parked car on the left side of the road. Clammering out from the wreckage, he caught a small girl turn the corner. "Hey, it ain't safe here you have to-" After following her out into the large park he stopped. It was supposedly Marline. Wiping his tears, he stared at the girl that wouldn't disappear. "Ma-Marline?"

"Hi Daddy! Do you want to save me?" She smiled, a cute little blush across her face, eyes tight, she giggled.

"What?"

"You do want to save me right, daddy? Don't you want to hold me tight again? Don't you LOVE me daddy?" The girl who looked like Marline had tears in her eyes, she was as cute as a button. She looked exactly like Marline, talked like her, smelled like her...His eyes wide with pride and want, he nodded his head reaching for her. She took a step back, and smiled. "Just follow me, but bring your gun, you're going to need it."

Staggering to his feet, he stumbled after the ghost that was now haunting his reality.

* * *

Yuffie helped lay down the soldier on the mat, he groaned. His condition was worsening; it really wasn't helping that his left leg was missing from the hip. Concentrating, Yuffie cast a Curaga upon the soldier: the bleeding stopped, his leg was completely healed over, he still didn't HAVE a leg, but the wound was closed, except for a small bone poking out of the nub that was once his left leg. Standing up, Yuffie struggled to the next soldier when the Lieutenant grasped under her arm. "Hey, are you ok?" 

"Yeah, my magic...it's a little drained. She reached into a cupboard next to her and pulled out a vial with a blue solution in it. She swallowed it in one gulp, and grimaced. The taste of the magic wasn't as good as anything else. "This should keep me going for another couple of hours."

"You should be careful with that stuff, too much and you'll lose control. Who knows what magic you'll cast if you go outta control on us!" The lieutenant helped her to her feet, she shook him off.

"I'll be fine, but thanks for the advice." The lieutenant smiled as she walked off toward a soldier with a lot of blood pouring from his skull. Turning on a dime, he walked steadily toward the command post, or so it seemed,walking past the post he headed to a lone tree by the Southern Road.

"Is everyone ready?" A voice from nowhere asked.

"Yes sir, all the soldiers have pulled out but a couple of stragglers against our movement. Do you want me-" He was cut off by a laugh.

"Do not worry, they will not last long against my masters creatures. And the girl?"

"She is currently following Red and Vincent. I will see to it personally that she leaves her current course and heads to the center of the plains and away from the mountains. Cloud is following our desired course."

"Good...And...Yuffie?" The voice seemed sad, but there was something about the voice that made it seemed like the voice cared for Yuffie.

"She won't be a problem, just healing the wounded. She'll pass out soon from exhaustion." Saluting the tree, the Lieutenant turned on a dime and armed himself with a pistol. Checking to see all eighteen bullets in the magazine and one in the chamber, he pulled back the slide and moved a lever on the gun from 'Safety' to 'Semi-Auto'. Picking up a long range radio he gave instructions to the person on the other end. He smiled as he jogged into the city.

* * *

The sun was beginning to set on the Western shore of Costa Del Sol, now the only light was provided from barrel flashes in the night; a lantern to a soldiers' death. Citizens in the encampment about a mile from the city huddled in fear; no one knew what the enemy looked like, and apparently it was more than just five of those super freak-beasts. Hundreds and hundreds of snakes with wings filled the city, bringing other small creatures in with them. Although, the good news was that this did solve the cities rat problem. This sort of news was delivered from an optimist in the Southern section of the encampment. Needless to recite, he didn't add anymore 'Good News' to the group, which now appeared to be a little more settled into their surroundings. The soldiers were kind, they gave blankets and food to all that was needed; as if the food rained from above. Some called this a curse, a payback for what happened six months ago, others speculated on government experiments, and many more, a majority, said it was the end of the human race. Akwardly enough, they were all right.

* * *

The wind was very heavy that night, most of the soldiers thought it quite perilous to move in. Only darkness could bring out so much destruction and chaos. Apparently the enemy saw the darkness as less of an oppurtunity to attack as well as the explosions subsided, and then there was nothing. Still able to see the tiny flash of light, Vincent jumped down from the building he was on and peered around the corner. Nothing in his sight, so he mentioned for Tifa and Red to follow. Turning right he followed the sidewalk until he felt a door. He opened it, and just as he thought, it was weapons shop. Suddenly he felt he had hit a trip wire and ducked, just in time as a large dagger flew past his head, nearly hitting Tifa and flying out the door. Before he knew what was going on a large, old man was pointing an eight gauge shotgun to his face. He was black, and had black hair shaved in the'Mr. T' style that was o' so populartwenty years ago; he wore a blackkevlar vest and combat boots and camo pants colored green and grey. "Names please? Or do I have to blow your brains out?" Standing slowly Vincent and Tifa faced the man. 

"We do not wish to harm you, we're here to aid in this fight against the creatures." The man backed off a bit then looked his 'customers' over a bit, nodding slightly.

"Prove it."

"Duck." Vincent whipped out a small dagger, and the old man ducked down out of the way as the dagger stabbed through the flying snakes skull and posting it over an old picture of Shinras previous President. The beast had slipped through a hold behind the old mans counter and was ready to strike. The old man looked up and over his shoulder and turned to Vincent.

"Well Damn! I guess that will shut me up for awhile! My name is Ollivor Mantrin, but you can call me Ollie for short. I suppose you guys came in here to spend the night," Ollie turned around and stepped over perfectly placed trip wires, "don't mind those, just as long as you don't step on 'em you won't die. Anyway, you've come to the safest," he turned to the dead snake on the wall, pulled the dagger out and handed it to Vincent who gave him a small smirk, "ok, one of the safest places in Del Sol." Turning around he noticed the fine young lady and the...Dog? "Well now, who might you be m'lady?"

Blushing slightly, Tifa held out her hand to the old man. "My name is Tifa Lockheart, and my friend here," she said pointing to Red as he wagged his tail, "is Red XIII, but just call him Red for short."

"Yo, how ya' doin'?" Said Red. Ollie stared at Red for a bit, then after awhile spoke.

"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear your pet just talk. Anywho, there's only one bathroom and one couch in the back, but plenty of blankets and pillows. I've got some family in the back, so don't mind them." After moving behind the counter, Ollie hit a button that opened a small door into the back. Vincent and his compadres had to hunch on all fours, even Red, to get in. The room was no bigger than a small studio apartment, cramped in were three children, two boys and a girl, and their parents, one woman and one man. "These are my two boys, and the girl over there in the corner," he said pointing to the corner in the North Eastern Section of the room, "is here with her parents, Oliva and Threshton Mantrin. Threshton is my brother, he owns the local inn down the street."

"Why aren't you there?" Asked Tifa.

"I would be," said Threshton, "but those damn monsters knocked the building over. So many lives taken...We had nowhere to go, I just tried to put as many people as I could in there, but when I heard a rumble, I was the first to leave. I didn't even warn the customers. I just ran; I'm a coward. There were at least fifty men and women and children in there, God forgive me." He bent over to sob quietly on his wifes shoulder.

"There, there Threshton, you did what you had to do at the time." Said Mrs. Mantrin, "It's not your fault, those damn monsters and this...battle, or whatever you call it, is the problem. Where are the soldiers of Edge City or Juno when you need them?" She continued to comfort her husband as Ollie turned to Vincent.

"There are a couple of blankets in the closet on your left, make yourself at home. There isn't much to eat, just some rations which we have to save up, unless you have some." Vincent shrugged and turned to Tifa, who pulled out her pockets and nothing but dust and lint came out. She then turned to Red and licked her lips humorously.

"Don't even think about it sister." Said Red, the group who didn't know he could talk weren't completely surprised. They had seen far stranger and weirder things today than they had in their entire lives. Sighing heavily, Vincent made for a small alcove between a M249 and a bucket full of old revolvers and closed his eyes. Tifa, seeing as how there was little room left, leaned sat down at the doors entryway. Ollie tossed her a blanket and pillow, which she gave the pillow to Red, who declined, then put it on the floor and fell asleep instantly. The room was quiet once again, Vincent was asleep, but his brain was quite active for being asleep. For unconsciously he was monitoring all sounds outside of the building. There was nothing until he felt a tug at his side. Jumping slightly he opened his eyes to see the small boy looking at his old revolver. He unholstered the gun and spun it around a few times. The boy giggled, and clapped his hands. Vincent smiled, but the boys eyes widened and quickly ran off to his mother. For that one happy instant, he had forgotten what he was, but the boy brought him back to reality. His teeth, they were probably the only things that made him look anything like he was. Letting out an even greater sigh he stared at the ceiling, leaning back against the wall.

"Dammit." Closing his eyes once again, he fell into a dreamless sleep.

* * *

It was a fairly quiet and peaceful night, except for the cries of soldiers still on the battlefield, but one by one they were silenced and all that could be heard was a twist of a neck, or a gnashing of jaws around their sides, heads, whatever. The grass was waving back and forth in the slight wind from the coast, making Cloud all the more nervous. He had made a small campfire, and was wiping his sword down with a few poisons to help kill the enemy. He was lost deep in thought, an enemy could jump right in front of him and he wouldn't even notice. Thoughts of Tifa, Vincent, the others, passed by, wondering where they were, or even if they were okay. He looked up to see the Highwind still circling the plains,when he heard a sound in the bushes. Grabbing his small knife and sword he was quick on his feet when he heard a familiar voice.

"Always fighting aren't you? Ready to battle, and win at all costs, huh?" It was a womans voice, and of someone he knew, but couldn't put his finger on it.

"Who's there? Who are you?" He looked left and right, he couldn't tell which direction the voice came from, but then he didn't have to, as the person stepped out right in front of him. His swords dropped to the ground, a single tear fell from his chin, his eyes were wide with shock and joy. "Aeris?" He took a step forward, and his foot accidentally went into the fire, he stepped back again cursing. She laughed a bit. He looked up and noticed something, the sky it was...white? In fact everything was white, he couldn't see beyond his own campsite. It's as if he was automatically transfered to Limbo, when he finally figured out what was going on. "Shit, I knew it, just another dream. You're not even-" She put a finger to his lips and he could _feel _it. He could feel her warm finger against his cold lips.

"Shhh...Don't say it, or it might come true." She pulled away and stood before him. "Cloud, it's...been a long time since we talked, but there was something important I needed to tell you." He leaned forward and tried to grasp her hand as she seemed to drift higher and higher. "You need to...need to...for-" He awoke with a sudden start, sweating, and crying. He continued to cry, he didn't know how long it was before he stopped and returned to his reality.

"Why? Why do you haunt me?" He questioned the ground then stood up nearly falling over but looking directly into the full moon above him. "WHY ARE YOU HAUNTING ME? WHAT DO I HAVE TO DO?" He cried out the last vowel, and heard wolves cry in the distance, unknowingly sharing his anguish. Falling flat on his face, he returned to darkness, and didn't dream of her. The night was passing into day once again, and the battle for Del Sol, and the team of the HighWind was just starting.


	4. Chapter 4: Deception

**WARNING! EXTREMELY EXPLICIT VIOLENCE, GORE, AND SOME SEXUAL THEMES IN THIS CHAPTER!**

**17+ PLEASE! ****  
**

**Chapter Four: Deception**

It wasn't long before the next day had come, another hot one. You could see the steam rising above the ocean, and almost disappearing before your eyes, evaporating into the atmosphere. The small delicate town of Costa DelSol was in ruin, there wasn't much of anything, living or inanimateleft to be of any use anymore.The smell of gunpowderandfire was in the airalong with the blood of hundreds of soldiers. Cowering in a corner was one soldier, who had apparently survived the night without any battle. He is a Private, fresh blood to be spilled yet. Although quite trained against most enemies this new threat had terrified the boy, urinating on himself and hiding quietly in a corner, he hasstayed here for quite some time. Crouching down and keeping his sub-machine gun forward, he crawled toward the edge of the shadows.Poking his head out he could see the streets stained with blood, and his comrades, who he had been with since day one, were tossed about like rag dolls: one was slightly perched over the topof a roof, a Sergeant, his best friend, hadbeen stabbed through the stomach with what looked like his own gun. He lay face up in the dusty street quivering, barely alive. Slowly the Private, his nameBriant, made his way toward his Sergeant. He was in bad shape, but it wasn't long before he spoke. "Y...Y..."

"It's allright sarge, I think it's over. Just hold on, we'll get you some help, we'll radio-" Suddenly the boy was jerked forward face to face with his Sergeant. He could smell his blood, the vomit next to his sarge, the salt from the mans tears as he wept, clutching a picture of what looked to be his daughter and wife.

"Y..You know what to do, boy?" The sarge drewthe boys smallpistol, his was usedas a last defense against the enemy. He had pulled it out after the beast stabbed him through, and shot twelve times, right in the beasts ugly face. But instead of killing him, the beast just gave him a smile, and leaned in close.

_SUFFER_

The sarge couldn't believe it, how cold the enemy was to let him suffer that way. The sarge would have killed himself, but the beast took away his weapons, leaving him with his dog tags and the picture of his family. "You...Y..."Thesarge heaved over and emptied his stomach of partials of his own intestines andblood. "Do it." The boy took the pistol and stood up, slowly pulling back the slide, pushing a bullet into the chamber. He pointed the gun at his sarges' head, but he hesitated, this was the man that brought him through training, that pushed the boy to his limits and beyond, that made him who he was today. "DO IT!" Screamed the Sarge, the boy looked away.

* * *

Silence was all that was left in the streets, silence, and the droplets of the boys tears on the pavement. There had to be a point to all this, this, fighting. None that he could see at the moment, so at that, the pointed his gun to his head. He cried, and then...He snapped. Visions of his training sprang to life in the boys eyes, the fight, the endorphins that rattled his veins, his capillaries, his arteries. He seemed to explode with information; He stood up suddenly and put a hand on the barrel of his Sergeants gun, it was a .50 calibur, tracer round, M2-487, a long range sniper, that was what his Sergeant was. And now the boy was going to get revenge for his Sargeants death, he wasn't quite sure how, but he knew what the beasts looked like, he knew that eventually they would arrive at the plains West of Del Sol. It was now his job to exact his revenge on the one that did his army the most harm: the monsters. He pulled with all his might as the large weapon inched slowly out of his superiors gut. A general slurrping and supping sound, like taping a wound with duct tape, then pulling it off, slowly, was coming from the sarge. He turned his eyes to the knife beside his superior. "Sorry, sarge, I think you would understand the basic rules of survival." Taking the knife in his right hand and the gun in his left, he stuck his own Sergeant right through the entry wound, and used the knife itself as leverage to remove the butt of the gun. Even using all his might he could get only get the weapon up a few centimeters. Realizing that he wasn't going to get the weapon out, he was going to have to remove his sarge from the weapon, he stripped the sarge from all his gear leaving him in his army green tee and shorts. Lifting with all his might, he could not move his sarge; although he was trained very well, the fact was he was more of a geek, a sort of intel man. 

As he went about thinking, he could hear the screams of soldiers and rumbles across the streets, he had to move quickly, or he would be as dead as his C.O. Tearing out his knife once again, he split the Sarge's body in half, in two seperate places so that the upper and lower body was seperate. All that was left around the rifle was a chunk of meat that contained the Sarge's stomach, bladder and other important intestines. Lifting the ten pound chunk of meat up and over, he laid it next to his Sarge's head, and looked at the hole in the Earth. The force from the beast's strength was so powerful and so accurate, it apparently ran his C.O. straight through with the butt of the gun, and into the ground. Shaking from his bewilderment, the soldier dug out the rifle and made his way to the city clock tower. _I won't let you die without honor. I'll kill the fucking monstrosity, I'll_-" His thoughts cut off, he ducked into an alley-way, as a horde of small flying snakes swept past, as if running from something.

"RUN YOU MOTHERS! MUWAHAHAHA!" That was a womans voice, he couldn't believe his ears. Yes women were usually fearless in all the battles he'd been in before, which was extremely limited to one on one training combat, but in the last thirty-six hours he could still hear their shrill cries as the beasts, for some strange reason, captured all the women. They were all still alive, so there might be chance of recovery. Even when the women that were captured fought back, these monstors obviously knew what they were doing, breaking limbs so they wouldn't be disturbed or hindered from their duty. As he sat back in the alley, he saw the woman pass, and grabbed for her arm, taking her back into the alley. "Hey! What MMF!" She started to struggle, but he kept his hand tightly around her mouth. He knew how this seemed, it wasn't like he was going to rape her, and he knew that she could probably handle the snake-like creatures, it was the larger, dual-horn types that he was worried about. She bit his hand hard, he just bled. She widened her eyes when she realized it was a soldier. She nodded her head, only then did he remove his hand. "I'm sorry, are you allright?"

"It's just a flesh wound. Nothing big, what the hell are you doing in this carnage?" He walked to the end of the alleyway and sat on a bucket; it was round and white, possibly used for paint or oil of some sort. Setting aside the rifle he had, he opened a pouch on his side, and removed a cantine, handing it to her. She blushed a bit; she was beautiful.

"My name is Yuffie of the team HighWind. I was healing soldiers when I fell asleep, when I came to..." She trailed off and looked out onto the sunrise. A tear rolled from her eyes. "It was horrible, when I woke those...things had taken over the base! How could this have happened? I've lost all radio contact with Cloud, Tifa...Vincent..." she sighed heavily, "and Cid, I can see that he's still up there. I wonder how much fuel he has left...Anyway I'm here to solve this little war of yours, until you pulled me in here." He nodded, apologizing for the way he had handled his, well now, their situation. The soldier, standing now, offered his hand.

"My C.O. is now dead, and I want revenge. With me I have a high powered rifle, but I need to find a good hiding spot, and possibly an escort there. Will you help me?" She looked down, considering her options.

_'Can I trust him? I mean he is a soldier, he was assigned to help defeat the enemy, but we aren't here for revenge. We're here to defeat the enemy, crush them in the Western plains. But I suppose if he's here for vengence...' _Her thoughts were cut off when the soldier drew his small Silence PPK, shooting a large snake that had crawled into the alley.

"Come on! It won't be long before they find us here! Are you with me?" He held out his hand once more, sweating, he looked beautiful in a frightening sort of way. She gave him her hand, and they ran off into the distance, heading for the clock tower.

* * *

Quiet, that was the word, but tranquil was something of a different story.Blood drips down from a soldiers mouth as flies crawled inside for a taste of what was once pumping through this mans body not more than two hours earlier. His flesh is still wet with sweat, as is his underwear, his eyes in an upward position, fixed toward the sky, screaming in their own silence. Something tore the torso away, it's large meaty hands ripping the tendons and ligaments away as if it was a bone to be plucked from a fresh Chocobo dinner. All was left was the soldiers head, but it was saving that for last, for it was the best part. After finishing the torso, tossing away the rib cage and spine, the spinal fluid sucked out as if through a straw, the thing reached for the head of the soldier, removing the helmet it grabbed a small knife from the nearby corpse and cut a small circle in the skin, then tossing the skin into its mouth. "The hair, it tickles the throat." Licking away the blood, it used the knife, with just a little force, and cut a small hole in the skull of it's victim. Putting it's mouth to the little hole it began to suck the brains out. It got the brains out in one fell swoop, chewing it like a large wad of gum. The victims eyeballs, still horribly wide, dangled from the monsters lips. A crunch of leaves meant that his master was near, sniffing the air he also smelled a human. Grunting he slurped up the eyeballs and swallowed them like pills, belching loudly spewing a mixture of old sweat, blood, and saliva into the air. "I love the taste of endorphins in the morning!" The human cringed a bit and covered his mouth with a large hankercheif. 

Turning around, the monster was twelve feet tall, with large horns, but it was more than that. A small, yet distinguishable face could be seen beneath a solid glassteel orb. Inside this orb as a human face; it was a male and was apparently sleeping while the beast fed on what was left of the humans skull.

"Could you at least clean up after yourself, the smell is..." Turning away he walked toward the Jeep that was still running.

"Divine?" Said the thing, picking up the dead humans hand, which it had peeled back the finger nails and sucked the fingers dry of any flesh and fluid, and used the finger bone of the middle finger as a toothpick. The human peered over his left soldier shooting a glare at the thing, opening his mouth to speak.

"I thought more along the lines of completely disgusting, more of a vile stench, the kind I only get from you." He smiled a bit, the monster stopped picking his teeth and jumped forward roaring in the humans face, and the human drew his two pistols and pointed them forward.

"Stop this meaningless fighting immediately!" Yelled another person, robed completely in black, "There is no time for this quarry! The enemy will wake soon, troops are already gathering their forces,we must prepare if we are to get anything out of the girl. Speaking of which intel sources has tracked her to a small weapons shop at the edge of the Western side of the town. Genesis," he said speaking to the twelve foot tall monster to his left, "you are my toughest soldier, please take care of this nusiance. But do not harm the girl, but kill the others if you wish." Genesis bowed low, it's horns scraping the grass, creating small gashes in the Earth.

"It would be my pleasure, my Master." Straightining Genesis glared at the human in the camo, grunted and ran swiftly South East toward the town of Costa Del Sol. The slow rumbles he made in the Earth awoke the small woodland animal creatures in their slumber, running for anywher that was better than they currently were staying. Turning to the man cloaked in black, the soldier spoke softly, he knew that the beast called Genesis, had excellent hearing.

"Do we really need him? My soldiers-" He was cut off.

"Your soldiers are humans, and humans are not as easily controlled as Genesis. Do not worry, they will serve their purpose, then, and only then, will we rid ourselves of them." The soldier winced and glanced toward the city. "Do not worry my friend, he cannot hear us."

"I'm still worried, and don't call me a 'friend'. We're only doing this so we can get rid of the damn thing. Are you sure you know what you're doing? I don't mean to question, but how do we know they have it?" The soldier walked the cloaked man to the jeep and hopped into the drivers seat. Starting the jeep they began their drive to the hills in the Western plains.

"What we seek, will be there. People who have come in contact with Mako, or have been fused with it, or even been in close contact with Jenova," the soldier shuddered, "will possess part of the materia."

"Then why were my females taken?" Turning left up a steep road the man sighed, but was pateint with the follower.

"They may be the last of the so called SOLDIERS from that distant past. Remember? It was a succesful army but not without regret in the testing stages. I must ask you to be pateint, we will find it, and your female soldiers will be unharmed except for the..." he trailed off, looking down to the jeep floor, "well you understand." The soldier did understand, but was regretful. This was going to be hard to explain to his own C.O.'s. He only hoped this...battle was worth it. Thankfully it was almost over, however, the mental trauma from this...pact with one of the most feared, and wanted, criminal, was going to be almost unbearable.

* * *

As the soldier and the man in black continued up the hill, the morning was just a little over the horizon. Must have been about eight in the morning. It was beautful; dolphins could be heard singing in the ocean, the dew on the grass glistened in the sunlight, creating small reflections of rainbows in the glass. _She's still asleep, _thought Vincent, _that's a good sign. _He could see tears starting to form around and under her eyelids. Shifting a bit, he got up to check the front, see if anyone is there or any enemies were around.Standing, he checked everyone out; fast asleep, the night had been quiet, hopefully that was a good sign. Returning the head band to his head so he could see where he was going, he crouched down and opened the trap door. Putting his gun forward he went out. The counter was stll a bit bloody from the flying snake last night, but nothing had been touched or moved out of place. His hand was a little shakey from the interesting day he had yesterday. His gun was dubbed 'Death Penalty', it was a good weapon but he preferred, now, using a .50 calibur Desert Hawk. They were fighting humans now, so it was impractical to waste such a powerful gun on regular people. Standing up he traveled over the trip wires and stood outside. He could smell the odor of flesh blood, when a shot came from down the street. Equiping his pistol, he headed East to the gunshot, and saw a soldier standing over his C.O. who was now dead. Sighing heavily, Vincent continued back to the Shop when he noticed Tifa was outside, he ran to her. "What are you doing? It's dangerous to be out here." He received a good punch to the gut for that one. 

"Vincent Valentine, you should know me by now, I can take care of myself. We are friends aren't we?" She hugged him, he was a little shocked but held her back.

"We are?" He questioned, unsure if that was indeed what they were. Sure, they had been fighting the good fight for a couple of years now, but what did he know about her? What did she know about him? She looked taken aback, like he had hurt her feelings, he paused with his mouth open, unsure of what to say.

"Why do you question that? We've been together for a couple of years now, we have to be friends, or at least like each other, or our cause, if we wouldn't want to be around each other, would we?" She looked at him a questionable look on her face, he tried to smile, and it didn't exactly suit him. She laughed a bit, and he kind of laughed back. "That's the spirit, you have friends here, you know that don't you? I mean, Cid, or Barret, or even...Cloud..."She looked a bit torn when she said his name, "well I mean, they would back you up, I'm pretty sure I would, if you needed some help. You'd do the same for me wouldn't you?"

"I..." He stopped when she interrupted him.

"No, wait, don't answer that. I'll just take the trust we have, and base it on that. Oh, that reminds me, we gotta wake up that man, I mean, we have enough gil to pay him for the night don't we?" They began to walk toward the shop, stepping over the trip wires, and back in through the trap door behind the counter, when something caught Vincent's attention. He stopped moving, Tifa, aware of the same thing stopped as well. "What is that?"

"I-I-I don't know..." It was some kind of vibration through the air, almost as if someone was playing their music extremely loud. He could hear his own voice vibrating in the air. It grew louder and louder, till it came to the North Eastern wall of the shop. The vibration stopped, the noise stopped. "Tifa, I want you to grab the children and go. This is going to get ugly." Running forward, Tifa attempted to grab the children when the wall seemingly exploded as a...mutated Dual Horn entered the room, taking his right foot and completely crushing the store owner. His wife screamed, but not for long as the monster took a big swipe and knocked her against the wall. Her head, completely crushed, slid down off the wall and onto the floor. It wasn't long before the monster took the remainder of her brains and slid them down its gullet.

"Mmmm...Tastes like chicken." It smiled, and Tifa winced. "Well, come on, I don't have all day, let's go missy." It reached for Tifa, when Vincent whipped out his gun and shot a bullet right onto it's hand. Pulling it's arm away, the sting still stood. "Hmmm...Mythril bullets huh? Very rare, expensive. Hope you got a good deal, because you're going to need ever last one to finish me off you son of a bit-" Vincent shot a second round into its face. Screaming, Vincent and Tifa carefully went through the trap door and jumped over the trip wires.

"I hope that will stall him so we-" Another crashing noise as gunshots and bows were shot off. A good scream then silence. "Well, I guess we don't have to worry about this bastard anymore."

"Don't get so cocky, that thing is still alive, I can feel it." Looking around, there was a rumble in the ground. "Quick! Jump!" Jumping from their spot, the monster had apparently dug under the ground and back up on their position.

"Fuck! How'd he do that?" Yelled Tifa, landing safely twenty feet away, running toward the edges of the city.

"Like it fucking matters now! Just run, Cloud has to be near the check point by now. I'll try to contact the others!" Vincent reached for his radio, clicking out morse code. "Hopefully he's remembered his Morse."

* * *

The morning dew was what woke him, dripping down from the tree above, plopping nice big droplets on his head. Lifting his head a bit, it seemed that he fell asleepunder atree. Scratching his big head, Barrett begins to sit up, looking around him. _Did I pass out in battle? What the hell? I remember..._

**_Marlene..._**

"Ho shit!" Standing up quickly, he failed to see the low branch and knocked his noggin a bit hard, screaming repeated curses about the trees mother, grand mother, and any other motherly figures in the Apple Tree's life time, he stood up slowly and started to look around. The sun was coming up, at least he thought it was, he couldn't tell which way was East or West or up or down. Cursing to himself he walked out from under the tree. Peering out over the sea, the sun pierced his own eyes as he looked at the dawn. It was definetly going to be a long day, when he captured movement in the corner of his eye. Turning around he swooned, almost falling flat on his face. Seems he's been conked out for awhile. Before he fell he caught himself with his left foot and stood his ground. Opening a small bag on his belt he popped some pills and soon the headache was over. Remembering the movement he headed towards the South West, before finding a small girl (_Marlene_) in a patch of white flowers. "Marlene?"

"Oh! You surprised me daddy! So you finally woke up from your nappy-nap! Well come on, we have so much to do and little time to do it in!" Turning around, setting the flowers on her head in a crown-like formation, she skipped toward the small plains just North of their position.

"You can't go over there Marlene! It's dangerous, there are creatures over there that could hurt you!" Tripping over himself, he ran after her, but every step he took never covered the distance between him and her. "Marlene!"

"Don't worry daddy, you're here to protect me," she turned around and showed her father her green eyes, round, sparkling in the morning light,"right daddy?" Who could resist the look in her eyes of ultimate innocence. Forcing a smile, Barrett walked toward her, nodding his head in a dizzy, lazy sort of way, unsure about her motives. But the fact that it was his daughter, his own flesh and blood, or seemed to be was enough for him to continue to move toward her.

They walked for what seemed like miles, the sun, now travelling toward it's zenith, shone down giving the feeling of one hundred degrees, but in reality about seventy-five degrees. He had actually walked about three miles, not a very large distance, but in the warmth of the sun could seem like days had passed. Barrett was sweating, the salty substance seemed to unmistakably burst forth from every pore the poor man had grown into. It was as if there was a waterfall on his beard and his sweat was the water dripping down into the river below. Soon, he removed his grey tank top, and tight, black-leather protective clothing underneath that. His pecs shone in the sun, his gut ached miserably as he hadn't eaten in days. Suddenly Marlene stopped, it seemed she was about to reach the edge of the Western Plains of Costa Del Sol. Turning to her procreator, she suddenly seemed...determined, like something was in her way and she needed it to...die. Finally catching up to his daughter he fell on his hands and knees, gasping for breath reaching for his canteen. But it was gone, he forgot that he emptied it the day before. He watched a small cactar race across the plain, obviously out of it's way, and shot it in the head. Just because he was tired didn't mean he couldn't shoot a small coin five hundred feet in the air. He was accurate and trained to do his job well. Walking forward a few paces, he emptied the remaining water in the cactar and ate the hide of the cactar, skipping over the spines and needles that covered the bastard. Afterward he collapsed in a heap on the dry grass. A few moments later, he thought, at least, Marlene appeared above him.

"Father, the time has come."

* * *

Heading down the main street of the town, Yuffie stopped the nagging questions in her head. _How is it this guy is still alive after an attack like that? I thought he would be dead and his C.O. looking for revenge. Should I trust this guy _really_? I mean, it's a miracle he's still alive at all, I'll have to ask him how he..._Her thoughts were cut off when she realized they were in a building again. "What is it?" She whispered afraid the enemy was around. He looked at her, a bit abashed, and she gave him the eyebrow. "What? What is this?" 

"Well, I gotta use the little guy's room. I don't mean to bother, but do you have to...you know?" She sighed really heavily. Now she really wasn't sure to trust this guy.

"Oh for christ's sake, you're asking me if you can go take a piss? Fuck if I care! And no, I don't, and I will let YOU know when I have to." He nodded, even more embarrassed, and turned toward the restroom in the back of the house. Not realizing it was a house Yuffie began to look around. It was quite big and beautiful, probably for the semi-rich bastards that lived in town, maybe a merchant or the Mayor even. The floor was made of what looked like pure Mythril, or perhaps Marble, and above her a mid-sized chandalier sparkled in the morning sunlight as it came in through the glass windows high above her head. It truly was a sight to behold, something that you didn't see everyday. Looking in the room to her right, she found a nice carpeted floor with two large chairs facing a fireplace. There was a box half opened. Examining the crate more attentively, it was actually a box of cigars, illegal cigars at that. Costa Del Sol, about a year and a half ago, had stopped all trade with Junon and Midgar, they wanted to stop all flow of that 'disgusting money' as they called it in the headline papers. Costa Del Sol hated Midgar, with it's new mayor in place the town actually grew upon itself, providing food, military weapons and other products for themselves. The improved Costa Del Sol was now one of the Largest cities in existence, since the Black Materia was in use, and had totally destroyed Midgar. Edge City was beginning to use whatever scraps of metal and weaponry and technology was left in Midgar to build up from there. Apparently the Mayor loved Midgar Cigars, and even though he hated it, he was a hypocrite. Closing the box, and putting it in the small pack she carried with her, she knew Cid would love to have these, even if she couldn't stand the smoke. Turning into the next room was a large family room, kids toys were scattered on the floor, broken pieces of glass and blood stains were dispursed among the toys. Yuffie winced and travelled toward the one-step-up and entered what looked like a back-door hallway. It was wooden, beautifully crafte and accurately real, she passed on to the flight of stairs. "Hey, soldier boy, I'm going upstairs." She heard a muffle that sounded like an 'Okay', but continued upstairs anyway.

Once she reached the very top, there were five rooms and one bathroom. Looking into the bathroom, it was swanky and very clean. Apparently the Mayor was a little on the Obssesive Compulsive side, either that, or he afford maids. Continuing down the hallway, she noticed the last door to be completely closed, even a lock was on the door, still locked. Curious as always, Yuffie picked the lock and opened the door.

It was a gargantuan room, at least it seemed so, inside were a lot of wires and way too many computer screens. Broadcast on the floor were dozens of charts and graphs, and what looked like a gun. At the barrell there was a little bit of grey matter, and a trail of blood. Delicately, she stepped over the gun and the wires to the closet, opening it slightly, only to see nothing, it was too dark. Reaching for what looked like a light switch, she flipped it up and pressed a button. Suddenly a sound of VHOOM went through her ears as lights began to turn on, monitors turned back to the pass code screen, and the closet doors in front of her automatically opened and she fell forward only to land face first on what felt like glass. Except she was still standing. Looking forward she saw a face, yelping out a small scream she backed up and hit another lit up glass chamber, and inside it was another face. It was the Mayor's face. She really screamed now, and the soldier ran up the stairs, wielding his knife in one hand and PPK in his other hand. "What's going on? Oh, shit..." He gulped down whatever remained in his stomach and reached for the door handle to hold him up. As he saw the face of the Mayor, tears swelled in his eyes, and he slid down to the floor.

"Hey, soldier boy, what's the matter?" Yuffie reached over and grabbed his shoulders, shaking him a bit, "What's up man?" He stopped his tears and tried to hold them back as he revealed a terrifying secret.

"That man, the woman in the glass, those are my parents. My father is the Mayor." Yuffie went white.

"Excuse me for a second, I have to uh," she just ran toward the bathroom, he could hear her emptying her stomach into the toilet, flushing it every so often. After that, she returned to his side, sitting just to his right, putting an arm around his shoulders. "I'm sorry kid, I know how it feels to lose someone you love." She turned a bit to the side and held her tears back. "It hurts."

"I knew something was wrong, they spent so much time in this room, I thought...I thought they were repairing their marriage, as it was a sham, but..." he kicked the side of a tower, yelping in pain. "Shit! That's gotta be solid Mythril." Suddenly it occured to him that he could hear two hearts pumping at the same time. He looked to Yuffie, then got up and headed over to the glass chambers. "Look at this, a note, from my dad." Indeed it was, there were instructions on how to bring them...back to life! They were in suspended animation, while their hearts were still pumping blood! They weren't dead, just, sleeping...sort of. "But...It says to not wake them until..."this" is all over."

"What?" Yuffie was now interested in what exactly THIS was.

"That's what it says, go ahead and read it." Yuffie took the paper from soldier boy and read it slowly.

_Dear Lark,_

_If you are reading this letter, either you have come home safe and sound, or this is a hideout for you and your battallion. Please keep this room a secret for now. I, we, I should say, have done a terrible thing, so desperate for power I have brought this terror to our town. So I have put your mother and I into these chambers. All the information on this is one the computer, the password is Sol Eterinity._

_I Love You, Your Father, and The Mayor of Costa Del Sol,_

_Brian Eggsbee_

"That's it?" Yuffie looked it back and forward up and down for anything extra when a key fell from the envelope. Picking it up the key read 'Heavens' Doors'. Pausing, she gave the key to soldier boy, or Lark now. "Well I guess this takes off the top of the chamber, should we give it a shot?"

"No, I would like to follow father's wishes and not wake him until this is over. However, I would like to know just what the fuck is going on in this town. He gave us a password, it must go to one of these computers..." He trailed off looking at the unfamiliar monitors when he noticed a small one in the North West corner of the room. It had only one word in the center followed by a blinking line stating 'Insert Passcode'. Taking the note over, he carefully typed in the passcode Sol Eternity and placed his finger over the enter button. "Here goes nothing." As he pressed the button a screen came up with charts and graphs, but in a small corner there was a flashing button that stated 'History and the Guidelines'. Taking the small cursor he put the triangular button over the flashing light and hit the button twice. All at once all the screens each displayed five pages of the history of Costa Del Sol, but on the third screen, was a red paper stating 'WAR FOR MATERIA'. After reading for five minutes Lark's eyes grew wide, and he backed up.

"What is it? What did you read?" He just calmly swallowed, his mouth now dry as a desert in the midday sun. Swallowing again to get enough saliva he calmly said three words that put Yuffie's mind into chaos.

"It's a setup."

* * *

Cloud opened his eyes, there wasn't much to see, just the leftovers of his dinner, the fire smoldering into little bits, the coal, and...an open plain of destruction about to take place. Lifting his head, his right arm was completely unresponsive. It seems that he kept it in an up position the whole time he slept, or tried to sleep, the night before. He calmly and slowly brought it down and thousands of hyperdermic needles sliced into his arm, making him moan aloud. "Well, I see you're up, get a good night's sleep." He recognized the voice, it was Tifa. 

"Good enough, how did you fair?" He looked over his left shoulder to find that she wasn't there. Instead, it was nothing. Getting up quickly, he discovered that the voice seemingly came from...well, nowhere. He really must've been tired, because he could have sworn he heard Tifa. Shaking his head, he grabbed a small bit of the rabbit he had, and tore off a big chunk of it's leg, barely cooked. Looking into the morning, he stood, like a hero, in the sunlight, unaffected. Putting his large sword over his shoulder he started walking into the middle of the plains West of Costa Del Sol. Apparently the rest of the gang was a little late, so reaching for his radio he tried to signal in when a familiar tone of Morse shouted itself over the frequency of his radio. "What the hell?...M-e-e-t-a-t-t-h-e-c-e-n-t-e-r-o-f-t-h-e-p-l-a-i-n-s-w-e-h-a-v-e-c-o-m-p-a-n-y stop. Oh shit." Looking Eastward he could see the silhouettes of his companions running toward him. Drawing his sword he watched as the giant beast that he had a conversation withyesterdayin the chaos, running wildly, his tongue hanging dripping with a mix of saliva and blood. This was it, this is what they had planned for the last few days. Charging up his Lightning 3, Cloud concentrated on the enemy ahead. His sword was now powered with the power of Lightning x3, parallel to the ground he was now running forward on. Tifa and Vincent passed his side, wishing him luck and turning 180 degrees to join him in the fight.

Jumping up and preparing for an aerial assault, Cloud thrust his wide gearth sword toward the enemy that was now in the air as well. He could see from the corner of his eye Tifa powering her Firaga, and Vincent loading his gun with special bullets, Mythril Iceaga. Shaking his head he was now three, two, one foot from his enemy. It was now in the last nano-second from his enemy did Cloud now go into a rage. His heart and mind connected he was fused with the battle at hand. This was the moment he went insane. This was it, this was the Battle of Del Sol. He dove, the angry, raged beast ahead of him put his huge clawed hands forward in defense and charged a mysterious blue/purple magic forward, a darkness or silence spell. They clashed, a light of undistinguishable amount of energy and a blue aura surrounded them and forced it outward twenty feet.

* * *

"The time is now Daddy, draw your weapon, kill the one that killed me!" The ghost of Marlene pointed out to the Plains North of Barretts position, and lo and behold, Rufus, the President of Shinra Incorporated, was standing in the middle of the field. Confused, in a sort of haze, Barrett questioned whether this image was real or not. It couldn't be possible at all, he was dead he was killed by the Diamond WEAPON, the Earth's last defense against the firing of the other destructive weapon known as Sister Ray.

"This is impossible, he cannot be alive my child, he is dead, we saw the explosion! No one could have survived a blast like that!" Barrett lowered his weapon and questioned the now very impatient and angry Marlene.

"So you would rather wait it out, and have him walk the Earth while I am unavenged? How could you? I hate you!" These words stung his heart, his hear that has taken too many beatings to hold steady; his steel heart that has rusted and lost his love too many times. Looking concerned but determined he raised his weapon, using powerful ammunition and shot twice, the first missing and the other piercing his chest. He had avenged his daughters death.

"Good boy, you pathetic fool!" Turning around he saw what was not Marlene, but a mysterious woman dressed all in black with a mask on. "You are really pathetic, believing that your daughter still lives. And yet, she still does!"

"What? Who are you? Who did I really?-" He turned North just to see Tifa stumble and fall to the ground. "WHAT THE HELL? WHY DID YOU, WHY DID YOU?-" She silenced him with a finger on his lips.

"I did nothing but encourage you to shoot the one you thought kille your family, mother, daughter. You shot the gun, I just whispered lies into your ear. Call it what you wish but you shot the gun. Now I must leave, enjoy your misery, you fool!" And before Barrett could say another word, she had disappeared in a thin bit of smoke. Running forward, Barrett tried to get to Tifa, only to have a bullet scar his face and pierce the ground. Looking up, a sniper in the hills, taking out his own sniper he ducked down and aimed. This was going to be a long day.

* * *

Vincent turned, seconds after Tifa had been shot, he missed her fall as she fell to the ground. "TIFA! TIFA! Ah shit, screw this," reaching for his radio, which apparently was working now, called Cid,"CID, WE NEED AN EVAC! NOW! TIFA IS HEAVILY DAMAGED! One to the chest, and another has scraped her arm. She needs medical attention now!" Taking off his red cloak he covered himself and her, so no one could harm or see what he was about to do. "Sorry Tifa, this is for your own good." Reaching for her tank top, he ripped it off, to reveal a torn bra strap, and a bullet hole on her right side breast, breaking two ribs and a hole to her lungs. "Shit!" This was heavy bleeding, she needed heavy medical attention now! Taking out some bandage he managed to make a line of scrap t-shirt and wrap it around her body, stopping some of the bleeding. "GODDAMMIT! CID WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU?"

"HEY! I'm trying my best, but I'm busy with some anti-air at the moment-Wait...they stopped, weird, allright I'm coming." Vincent could see the Highwind hovering about five feet from the ground, and crew members jumped out with stretchers, two armed with guns, and huddled over Tifa.

"Don't worry, we'll take care of her, you finish the mission!" One of the crew members patted his back and picked up Tifa at her legs, another at her head, onto the stretcher, and loaded her up onto the Highwind. Standing now, he watched the Highwind back off and head East for Edge City for the best medical attention. Meanwhile, he saw Cloud in heavy battle, not even glancing back. He forgave him, for now, probably didn't even hear the gunshot. Sighing, he pointed his gun to the beast only to watch it fall, dead on the grass below. Confused but over-joyed, he ran forward to Cloud.

* * *

END OF FOURTH CHAPTER! Ok, Reviews, be nice, this took me one hell of a long time, and a lot of trips to the local library. Hope it's long enough! Next Chapter: How did the monster die, and what the hell is going on? What? You mean there is a complicated plot behind this battle for Costa Del Sol? Next Chapter: I haven't decided the name, check my profile for updates!

* * *


	5. Chapter 5: Mystery Materia

**Chapter 5: Mystery Materia**

Up and down and all around, it was one hell of a ride for Rude, but he kept his act together and continued through the ventilation shaft, only once and awhile he would hear the KLANK! of a bullet bouncing off the outside of the air conditioning system. Obviously they were in mid-battle, so he definetly had to hurry his little ass up a bit, if he wanted to return to the ground alive. He was sweating, tired, and still no sign of what he was looking for. They obviously kept it very well hidden, maybe it was in one of the guys rooms? No, HE said it was in one of the girls rooms, it had to be. But there were only two girls in the whole fucking ship! He already searched the traitor's room, Yuffie, and Tifa...Well it wasn't in her room either. He radioed in to see what the hell was going on. "I've looked and looked, there is nothing. Not even in Tifa's room." He waited a minute before he got tired and headed for an opening above one of the crewmates rooms. He could hear two voices, one laughing the other laughing as well, they seemed in high spirits, wonder what they were discussing.

"And so the scientist says, 'That's not a Chocobo, that's my wife!'" The two crew mates burst out with laughter, giving Rude enough of a distraction to jump down on top of the two, knocking them cold before they knew what hit them. Carrying the bodies onto their respective beds he sighed heavily. Call him a gentleman if you like, he put them on their respective beds to see if they would buy the fact that maybe they were dreaming. Not that he cared that much but he did it anyway, and put the screen back up onto the air conditioning vent. Taking another drag of his cigarette, he sat down on the only chair in the room and picked up a nearby magazine; pornography, "Girls Gone Nuts...Well couldn't hurt." Taking it out he unzipped his fly when a crackle came through the radio then off again.

"It was a shitty joke anyways," Lighting up, he took a drag off his cigarette, and blew the smoke up into the shaft. "So, what am I to do now, sit and relax?"

"That's a definite negative, Rude." Finally a voice through the radio, "You are to evacuate the ship immediately. We'll find that damn materia one way or another." Taking a drag and nodding his head he zipped himself up and headed out the door and onto what looked like the bridge. The other crew mates were a bit too busy to see Rude sneaking past, and out to the jump deck. He would have gotten away perfectly except...Something, an unseen force field held him in place. He couldn't move an inch! "What the hell is this?"

"Looks like the spider caught it's fly." Rude turned his head to see Cid standing right behind him. He had a big smile on his face with a big cigar to go with it. Rude looked at him with disgust at the stupid joke.

"Oh shut up."

* * *

"No fucking way..." Lark had just begun to read what was on the screen, when he heard the clash of steel on flesh, hard flesh. Looking out of the window he could see Cloud and the beast bashing their swords and its...claws in midair. "Fuck this, I'm going to end this." Removing his rifle he placed the stands on the windowsill, checking windspeed and the elevation of his shot, when Yuffie came over. 

"You can't Lark! Only mythril bullets can pierce its skin!" Yuffie was now at his side, placed his hand on his shoulder, and smiled. "Let us handle this one."

"No, this is for my father, for the mistakes he has made, and for the corrections I am going to make!" Powering up his rifle he took his aim. Feeling the fury of a boy without a father, for a troubled past, for something more than a rich family, Yuffie, placed her materia directly on top of the bullet in the chamber; Iceaga, Firaga, and of course Death, if it would work. "Wait for it...Wait..." Taking his aim he pulled the trigger. At first nothing then the shock wave of his gun pushed him on his back and Yuffie on top of him. The bullet streaked through the air, filled with Lark's passion, and Yuffie's determination. It penetrated the thick hide of the beast, through the mythril skull and into the brain making a clean getaway. At first the beast was confused, but as it fell to the ground, in an instant, it found its way to heaven, or hell...where it belonged. The two of them, Yuffie and Lark were a little embarrassed, one to be married and the other, well who knew. She looked deeply into his blue eyes, and blushed madly. "Uh...Hi..." Lark hadn't felt the touch of a woman in a long time, her breasts were pressed against his chest and her legs were between his own, and she could obviously feel him 'Pitching a Tent' so to speak. Suddenly she leaned forward and kissed him hard. Lark's eyes got as wide as dinnerplates, but he fell into it, and started to kiss her back. They didn't hold it long till he sat up and she grasped his neck and bit it. He winced but smiled and tried to cop a feel on her when she swatted his hand away.

"Let me," she said, huffing a bit. Lark noticed this and squinted a bit to see her eyes in a sort of hazy view. Before he could say or do anything, she had his cock in her mouth, and started to suck, hard. He almost came immediately, he was a virgin after all, but kept it in letting her perform fellatio. After a few minutes though, he gushed and she swallowed, taking in as much of the fluid as she could, but ended up with a little milk on her breasts, shoulders and face. She fell backward and laid against the wall in the hallway, getting up and putting his "gun" away, he put his jacket over her.

"I have only one more thing to do, and I have to do it alone this time. Thank you for the help, Yuffie." Walking down the hallway he started to wipe away the tears when he thought, _A man in touch with his emotions, is in touch with himself_. That line made him gush forward with tears, turning he picked up his rifle and headed down the stairs. _Damn it father, damn it all to hell! If it wasn't for this war, I could, _another voice chimed in, a little different from the last, **_You could what? She's in love with another, it's obvious, she shouldn't have done the thing she did, and yet you let her. A real man would have just let her be instead of letting her perform oral sex on you! It's your fault, her man will probably leave her, or she'll kill herself! YOUR FAULT YOUR FAULT!_** He didn't know where this voice came from, but he knew it was right, and headed up the hill toward the enemy camp from the North Western side. He was going to try to flank the snipers with his own rifle. Walking toward the North he saw the HighWind pick up a person on a mat and he prayed they were allright. Sighing, he zipped up his fly and headed for a tall hill. Checking his sidearm, he realized he was down three bullets, and only two left, he was going to have to take a good shot in order to make sure this war, this battle, struggle, whatever you wanted to call it, ended quickly before something happened. But with Yuffie still in there, hopefully asleep, this day was not going to end well.

* * *

Getting up slowly, he finally came to his senses: He had just shot Tifa. Running, sort of stumbling on the gopher holes, he was at Cloud's front. "I...I..." Cloud just narrowed his eyes and gave him a good punch across the face. "I was tricked, I couldn't..." 

"What would Marlene say?" Suddenly a loud vibration went through all of them. Vincent, Cloud, and Barrett began to hold their heads as if something had exploded in their minds. Their ears, eyes, and noses began to bleed. "What the fuck was that? I think we should get back to the ship...We need to figure out what the hell is going on..." Reaching for his radio he signaled morse across all channels for Yuffie, but she was out cold, and couldn't hear anything that came over the radio. Sighing he looked over the fields, and strapped his weapon to his back. "I'm going after her. Stay with the ship, I will find her, no matter what." Barrett sighed, but he nodded, as he and Vincent, along with Cait-Sith and Red got onboard with the others. Cloud headed for the rear of the ship. There was a large compartment on the rear end, as he opened it, he realized that she might already be dead, but that didn't matter, she was part of the team, and Cid would probably kill him if he didn't even find her corpse. Once the compartment was open he smiled a little, and rolled out his Shinra Cycle. Yeah, it was used by the enemy but it was fast, and he liked the idea of it. Checking for his extra swords, he flipped the switch, and it roared to life. He didn't have much time, although it was morning, he just had a bad feeling about the day.

"I'll be back before you know it, Cid,"he looked up to the HighWind, hoping, praying, "take good care of Tifa. We're going to need her strength again." From the Bridge, Cid smiled, and gave him the thumbs up, and with that Cloud rode off, leaving a whirlwind of dust behind him. He knew the chances were slim, but he continued onward back toward Costa Del Sol, occasionally calling for Yuffie, and hitting the morse on the radio. He didn't like this at all, she should be fine, she's one of the greatest fighters he knew, she helped him defeat Sephiroth after all. Cloud, indeed, had a long and adventurous road ahead of him, if only he knew that. All he knew was what he saw in front of him. And that was his problem, he couldn't accept anything beyond what he saw. Aeris...She was dead, but in another form, a spiritual sort of form, he had seen it. But he sooner dismissed it as a dream than an actual belief.

Entering through the Western gate he slid to a stop; all he could hear were occasional moans from citizens still alive. He wanted to do something but he had to find Yuffie. Just above him in the local, and only, bell tower, Yuffie awoke from her little nap, tired and confused.

* * *

Her head...It was pounding, like a jack hammer was working in her brain. She slowly got up to a sitting position, and immediately felt the headrush, blood practically pouring into her head, and she yelped a bit, grasping her head. Then a loud, yet only heard by her, exploded in her mind and she began to scream. "What the fuck was that? Augh...Goddammit, what happened?" She suddenly had flashbacks from two hours ago, giving head to the Mayor's son, destroying that...thing...But it was the first that brought tears to her eyes. "Oh no...What have I done?" She cried into her hands, when she heard something by the stairs. Getting up, ignoring the pins and needles in her legs, she held her weapon out and slowly made her way to the top of the stairs. She could hear...it...it was breathing heavily but it sounded more human. She was about to jump out when it, turning out to be Cloud, jumped out first. 

"Oh thank God, Yuffie, are you alright?" Immediately she was in his arms, crying softly. He noticed that she had a bit of...semen dripping from the side of her mouth. He looked away, concerned and tried to lead her down the stairs, when he could hear the soft drone of engines coming near. "Wait here. I'll check it out..." Cloud crept beyond the wooden table in the center of the room and to to the window, with floral drapes. Peeking around the corner he spotted several armed men approaching the house. It seems the other opposition has an army as well. He had parked the bike in the alley next door, and turned to grab Yuffie. "Yuffie?" Her eyes were blank and dark, seizing she fell forward and began to shake violently. "SHIT!" Getting on his hands and knees he pulled her to his side, and she threw up some semen and blood. "Aw, fuck." Cloud whipped his head around to see if anyone had come in yet. Seemed as if they were not interested in the mayors house, and marched past. Funny, though, they got off their wheels and started to walk toward the plains.

"Clouda...Cloud...why the long face, ya?" She was obviously not well, she faded in and out of consciousness; he had to hurry, otherwise, something may happen to her, and he couldn't let that occur. This was on his mind when it happened, something amazing, but deadly all in one swift movement she was rising into the air, appearing to float. Cloud stood back as she began to glow a deep red, filling the room and starting to outshine the sun outside. Cloud wasn't sure what the hell was going on but it needed to end quickly before any of their enemies decided to attack. "Mhhmmm...ARRRRFGHAAAAA!" Yuffie began to scream aloud, the loudest she's ever screamed, tears and sweat dripping from her finger tips and hair. The glow began to focus onto a point just above her navel; there, the start of their adventure had truly begun.

It was a sphere, it glowed like blood, and it seemed to have a very powerful aura around it. Cloud could not take his eyes off this strange phenomenon, but he had to, in order to get out of there. Yuffie was still fading in and out of conciousness, as if she was somehow connected to the strange orb that floated higher every minute... Suddenly gunshots rang out and scathed Cloud just above the knee. Kneeling, he jumped up and grabbed Yuffie in one hand and the orb in the other. Landing on his good leg he hopped away diving behind a large pillar. The gunfire stopped and they entered the building, when one of the monsters came out behind them. Apparently something fishy was going on, and the Army was working with the beasts. This didn't make Clouds situation any better; grabbing a small flash bang, he quickly tossed it into the room, immediately someone noticed it. Apparently they had night vision with them, and all Cloud could do was jump out the back door in front of him and limp Yuffie to his cycle. Placing the strange sphere into one of the compartments, he started up the engines when something plopped in front of him. Looking closely at his tank, he could see it was watery, almost like...Clouds eyes popped open, and he gunned the bike forward, twisting the tail, swerving into the main street, only to be closely followed by the beast. "Get Back!" Screamed Cloud, pulling his sword to his side, and amazingly, the monster stopped and ran the opposite direction. Stunned, he nearly lost control but gained it back, and drove swiftly into the morning, hoping his crewmates were alright.

"Wha? What's going on, where am I?" Yuffie had awakened, and seemed to be alright. "Holy Shit! Cloud, where the hell are we? Why am I on your bike? What-" Cloud just put a finger to his lips and she just quieted. Concentrating on the road ahead he could see the High Wind coming down from behind, Cloud waved his arm, and Cid responded by putting the tail end of the aircraft in front of him.

"Hang on, Yuffie, it's going to get rough!" Yuffie nodded her head as the wind began to pick up, heading their direction, making it increasingly difficult to breathe. As she held her breath, puffing in and out a little bit now and then, Cloud aligned the cycle to the aircraft. It was like out of a movie, he concentrated ahead and tried to make it in slowly, when Cid announced over the radio that something was following them. "Shit!" Cloud checked his mirrors to see the monster still chasing him, apparently they WERE important. Not only that, but he checked his gauges to find he was slowly running out of fuel. "Double Shit! Cid?" Calling over the radio, he had a new plan, a crazy one but he had no other idea. They only had less than an eighth of a tank left, and the HighWind couldn't slow down anymore, or it would stall. "Cid, follow me to the coast, I'm gonna jump! Just set it ahead of me and hover. We should be able to get away with this but have something soft prepared for our landing!" Cid responded quite quickly.

"We'll have to do this quick, all this action has set this old girl into a shocked position. She's runnin' low on fuel, and if we hover for more than five seconds, we'll stall. You better punch it Cloud." Turning sharply Cloud headed for the beaches of Del Sol. Just up ahead, no more than 2.5 miles, and traveling at 80 miles an hour and increasing every second, there was a small cliff, it rose about fifty feet in the air; indeed, he needed to do it now, or this could end badly. Racing at more than 95 miles an hour , he had reached the cliff.

"HOLD ON YUFFIE!" As soon as he left the cliff, time slowed, he could see children playing on the beach below, the dolphins, with their fish, the waves seemed to go on forever as the rising sun met his hand, guarding his eyes. Turning to face ahead, he quickly pulled the brakes, his ride hitting the bottom of the HighWind with amazing force. Cid punched the boost button one last time, and off they went. The beast stood over the edge of the cliff, almost frightened of the water below him, but he smiled. As he smiled, Yuffie was taken from the "wreckage" that was Clouds bike and Cait Sith's extra suits. They were now a scrap heap for both the motorcycle and the extra robots. "Yuffie, answer me! Yuffie!" Cloud was pushed aside as the on-board medical team collected Yuffies' body and placed her on a cot, and took her to the med-lab. Standing up Cloud reached into the compartment on his bike and took out the strange orb. "Cid, guys," he showed them the orb, their eyes grew wide with wonder as it shone in the last bits of sunlight leaked in through the ceiling, "We need to have a little discussion."

* * *

The cold breeze wandered through it's hair, if you could call it that, and he sniffed it. They seemed to be heading North, but they would probably seek refuge in their hometown Edge City. It only smiled and laughed as he turned, and headed South West, back to base. It appeared 'Genesis' had a sort of connection with the human named Cloud, but it was weak, and that's what made his brother weak, thus he had been killed. But he couldn't help but think about what killed his brother. Obviously it was a Mythril bullet, but it had a tint of...no it couldn't be. There had to be a strong connection with the host in order for the body to use and manifest that kind of power, but still...Anything is possible, it looked at itself, it was an abomination to anything and everything the original owner would have believed in, but alas, it was in servitude, and once it served its purpose, it would be nothing more than dust in the wind. It was a strong foe his master was going up against, after all, if the rumors were indeed true, they were going against the same Cloud that destroyed Sephiroth six months ago. Not that Sephiroth was the greatest foe, obviously insane and a little on the gentle side, it was still a great task to stop, what with the meteor he had to stop as well.

* * *

There was much work and even more to discuss as Cid set out the orders for the day. They needed to head back to Edge City to repair, refuel and get more ammunition for the ship. Not only that, but half the crew and at least three members of their team needed to be healed and get some food in their bellies. This wasn't going to be a good war, if you call it that; any war wasn't good. There has always been something good to come out but also the bad that the opposite opponent was trying to accomplish. Cid sighed heavily and headed to the meeting room in the center of the HighWind.

* * *

Cloud stood at the head of the long meeting table, before him was the rest of the team that could attend the meeting. Vincent to his right, and Barret to his left; Red next to Vincent, Cait Sith on Barret's side. Cid stood at the far end of the table, arms crossed, puffing a cigarette. Sighing heavily, Cloud looked at his members and turned angrily to Rude. He was strapped tight with thick nylon ropes. Barely moving and barely able to feel his lower extemities, he just looked back at Cloud. "What. The. Fuck? We've had it up to here with the bullshit! Our past is behind us and our future, Earth's future is all that matters!" Backing up steadily, he looked Rude straight into his eyes, and said, "What is going on? Why are you on this ship?" 

Taking in all of this, Rude simply answered. "I cannot say anything, if I did, I'd die. And that doesn't bode well for either of us." Barret, obviously losing his temper, stomped up to Rude; a glare, no, more like insidious hate eminated from his eyes.

"Fucker, I'll kill you!" He just about had his hands around Rude's neck when Cid shouted aloud. Barret returned to his seat, a little pissed at the fact that he cannot kill Rude...Yet. Moving on from Barret, Cloud asked the same again.

"I CAN'T SAY! Even I don't know the full story! There's a lot going on behind my back and yours that I'm not even sure about!" Sighing heavily, he shook his head, "What I can say is I was sent aboard here to look for some kind of strange materia. A...deep ruby like appearance, but nearly light as a feather. I don't really know what they're going to use it for, honest!" Cloud looked to Cid who only turned away, opening the meeting room door and quietly exiting. Turning back to Rude, he reached into his pocket and revealed a small orb, the exact description that Rude had given. "H-h-h-oly shit! You have it? How? How?!"

"So you actually know more than you're telling us? 'Fess up! What the hell is going on!?" Cloud was just about to break, if he didn't say something soon he was afraid that something...Not so nice was going to happen to Rude.

Sighing once more Reno looked up to Cloud. "I'll make you a deal, I say what I know, and you let me go. Either that or I say nothing and you know nothing." Cloud nodded along with the rest of his team. "Very well..."

* * *

_It happened after the defeat of Sephiroth. This was apparently planned in advance to the defeat of Sephiorth. The Turks were nearly over, the funding was gone. We were about to give up when we were contacted by a man. He said his name didn't matter, but what he did say was that the Turks could regain their honor if we worked for him. He said...we could see loved ones again. I thought he was full of it, but we didn't know what else to do. We did ask him about Sephiroth, and what he thought about it, he just said that 'Sephiroth is nothing but a boy stuck to his mother's teat. As long as he's still attached, he's weak.' Said he knew about his defeat before it even began. Again, full of it, weird dude, but we went along with it. Apparently, we weren't the only ones, this guy had everything, funding himself; he even had a couple of towns who wished for Midgars prescence on this planet once again. Said it upset the balance now that Midgar, the mega-city was gone._

_Well as soon as we heard of this the money just sounded to great of a risk, but we were sucked into his ways, and found ourselves inside his base; I'd like to tell you where it is, but he had us blind-folded and masked to make sure we didn't know where we were. Once we reached his base of operation he revealed himself as Professor Hojo with Lucy as his assistant. How crazy is this? We thought Hojo had died, but apparently he lives. He was revived with the second to last orb known as the Ruby Materia. And now he searches for another, yours I'd imagine. He's not sure if you're the last who have it, but he wants it, bad. I don't know what he wants with it, but I know he does want it for something._

* * *

"That's all I know, everything." Reno looked to his hands, as they were unbound, and he was given a parachute. "What's all this?" 

"A deal is a deal. You told us your part, and now we let you go. " Cloud smiled a little, making Reno nervous.

"But why do I have to parachute! I'm afraid of heights!"

"Well, shouldn't have come on board. And 'Mum's the word', so you better get moving. We can't just stop for anybody, including a little weasel like you. We're running low on gas, so better go before you end up in the wrong hands!" Cloud pushed reno to the edge of the HighWind's Jump Door, and pushed him out.

"You'll regret thissssssssss..." he vanished out of sight beyond the clouds but you could still hear his voice linger, as if his anger stayed with the HighWind. The crew of the HighWind sat at the desk, and sighed. This wasn't going to be just another day, this may end up as another war. Another adventure they had, against the world, against Midgar, the Earth Guardians. This life was just beginning to be way to much. And now, things just got that much harder. Sighing deeply, the crew seperated to their own quarters, and proceeded to sleep on the things that disturbed them the most: the future.

* * *

**This ends chapter 5! What will happen in this crazy story!? Is Lucille still alive? What about Professor Hojo? What are the plans of this secret militant group? And what are the true powers behind the Mystery Materia? Stay tuned for the next chapter of Mystery Materia!**


End file.
